Expressing "it depends" with "kan"

Although there are a number of ways to express "it depends" in Chinese, the most common ones in informal spoken Chinese involve the verb 看 (kàn). Some common expressions include 要看 (yào kàn) and 得看 (děi kàn). Both mean "(it) depends (on)." Literally, they would translate as "have to look at," so the logic is not hard to understand. If you're looking for more formal language, consider 取决于 (qǔjué yú), "to be dependent on."

Advanced Pattern

Structure

If you're going to write a full sentence explaining what "it" depends on, then you're going to need to lead off with some kind of explanation of the "unknown outcome" of what "it depends" on. So you'll start with the "unknown outcome" in the first part of the sentence (before 要看 / 得看) and then end up with what "it depends on" (after 要看 / 得看).

[Unknown Outcome] + 要看 / 得看 + [Unclear Situation]

The "unknown outcome" normally includes some kind of question word, meaning something like "whether or not x happens" or "what x does," etc.